Travel Advice on travelling to Nepal, written from the ground. Authentic and unbiased - from the authors who are experts in the field of tourism in Nepal.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Travelling to Nepal Post Quake?

17, June 2015

Nepal was hit by an earthquake, however many
news stories, foreign offices and individuals forget that out of 75 districts,
only 14 have been affected. And, even though the damage in those districts is
extensive and devastating, there are many places in the country that have been
relatively, or completely unaffected by the earthquake.

This post covers general information, impacts and updates from touristic areas, insurance advice and post-earthquake tours!

source : www.humanitarianresponse.info

General information for visitors who want to travel to
Nepal:

The
media gives the impression that the whole country is a disaster zone and regularly
uses selective pictures of Kathmandu and highly affected areas to do this.
The whole country is not a disaster zone and many areas are perfectly okay
for tourists to visit.

Many
areas of Nepal, including areas traditionally visited by travelers, have
not been affected. While it is important to acknowledge the devastating
tragedy and recognise the substantial ongoing needs of the affected areas,
most of Kathmandu, and indeed the majority of Nepal, is certainly not
flattened. Life is getting back to normal in the areas that have escaped
the impact of the earthquake.

Despite damage to historical and cultural monuments, Nepal
is still open for business and welcoming tourists.

Most major roads and all air transport links remain
operational

The majority of hotels and restaurants in the tourist areas
are back in normal operation.

Apart from the trekking regions of Manaslu, Rolwaling, Langtang/Helambu
and parts of the lower Khumbu, most other popular trekking areas like
Annapurna have escaped widespread damage. Tourism is one of the mainstays
of the Nepalese economy, and Nepal needs tourists to come back and visit
the country this autumn season.

Travel,
particularly in developing countries, has always been inherently risky and
unpredictable. Using the words ‘safe’ or ‘no risk involved’ in your
messaging about Nepal is not appropriate because no matter where you
travel to or what you do, nothing has ever been 100% safe.

Districts
in central Nepal near the epicentre of the April 25 earthquake have been
affected and are not appropriate to visit right now. Travel in the
unaffected areas (such as those around Pokhara, for example) remains the
same as it has always been.

The major risks associated with travel to and within the unaffected areas relate to
getting into the country and moving around.

Most people arrive into Nepal via Kathmandu. Some parts of the
city are damaged and should not be visited.Booking through a reliable operator
will ensure the traveller avoids damaged areas and stays in hotels that
have been assessed as structurally sound.

Landslides on trekking trails and highways have affected travel
within the country. There have been an estimated 3000 landslides since
the first earthquake, which is as many as the last 5 years combined
(ICIMOD).There is a real concern
as to the impact of the upcoming monsoon season on this aspect and visitors
should definitely not visit the affected areas.Operators will have to keep close tabs
on the landslide risk.

Fewer
tourists generally visit during the monsoon season (June – mid-September)
although there are areas in the rain shadow of the Himalayas that are
often visited during this time of year. (Manang, Mustang, Dolpo etc.).
These regions have not sustained earthquake damage, are open for
business and still great to visit.

Travel
to the rest of Nepal during the monsoon has never been highly recommended
and especially now as safety assessments and reconstruction efforts are
ongoing in the affected areas. Travel disruptions (or worse) due to
landslides on roads/trails have always been a risk of traveling during the
monsoon

Favourable
weather from mid-September onwards has traditionally seen a steady
increase in people visiting Nepal for trekking and cultural travel.

Impacts
and updates on popular tourist areas and accommodation

Even
though Namche Bazaar, in the Everest region, was in the headlines after
the second earthquake on 12th May, most lodges in the Sherpa
capital have been unaffected.

The
heavy damage in the Everest region has occurred off the main trails, with
only few lodges being affected in the main Everest base Camp trekking
route.

The
Sherpa communities are hard at work repairing lodges and trails throughout
the Everest region, and it is likely that all will be repaired by October
2015.

Miyamoto
International, a team of world expert geologists and earthquake
engineering specialists will assess the Everest and Annapurna regions post
monsoon.

An
assessment is currently underway in the Manaslu region by a Swiss team of
geologists supporting the World Food Program. “Langtang, Rolwaling
and Manaslu & Tsum Region trails are badly affected but rest of
trails in Nepal are not much of a problem – during monsoon season
common landslides are expected but this should not affect the accessibility.
Everest base camp also open – some damage to villages,” says Erwin
Scheibert, Swiss geologist.

14 of
Nepal’s 75 districts have been affected with most of the damage
concentrating on Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk (including the Arniko Highway),
Dhading, Dolakha, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Kavre and Okhaldunga.

PLEASE
advise the potential traveller NOT to go to the heavily affected areas for
reasons of safety and out of respect for the situation of the people
rebuilding their lives in these areas.

Travellers
can explore other regions, such as Annapurna, Mustang, Humla, Jumla, Dolpo
and Kanchenjunga.

Chitwan
and Bardia National Parks also escaped much damage, and are thus ready to receive
visitors. The birthplace of the Buddha, Lumbini, did not incur much
damage and is open for visitors

Kathmandu’s
international airport is fully operational and was only closed for a few
hours on 25th April 2015.

Even
though the media portrayed large-scale destruction in the main sites in
Patan Durbar Square, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, a lot of the main temples
and UNESCO world heritage sites are still standing and Pashupatinath
sustained very little damage.

There
are many good news stories that are not being told in the media - in
Bhaktapur, for example, the Peacock Guest House, a beautiful traditional
old house has received the ‘green sticker’ (meaning it is safe) from the
safety assessment and the owners are actively involved in making the wider
area safe for locals and visitors alike.

The
Nepal government is currently working on the repair of the UNESCO sites,
which have reopened for tourists on June 15th.

With
unsafe houses and buildings being demolished, the affected areas are
gradually becoming safer again for locals and visitors alike.

Hotels
are being formally assessed for safety and rebuilding work is ongoing

An
online database has been established where hotels can upload their
assessment reports, risk management plans, photos etc. This should be
ready by 20th June and updates can be found on the Facebook group (below)

Anyone
traveling to Nepal should check his or her travel insurance policy Terms
& Conditions carefully and if in doubt check directly with the
insurance company. This applies to both existing policies and new
policies. Whilst many governments have Travel Warnings about visits to
Nepal some travel insurance policies may be affected. Note: although you
can buy travel cover online and through brokers it’s up to the traveller
to check whether the policy is actually effective or not.

Advise
people to be wary of operators offering ‘volunteering holidays’ especially
those that involve work with children and other vulnerable groups.

If someone has
relevant skills (medical practitioners, engineers, constructions specialists
etc) and are accredited / licensed / have a permit to work in Nepal then please
come. If you would like to ‘do something for Nepal’ but are not working with a
registered organisation / are not qualified then please find another way to
help. Fundraising, awareness raising or even better, visiting and spending
money and time in this amazing place would be highly appreciated! Then tell all
your friends when you return home!

Why should people travel to
Nepal?

Ethical tourism provides one of the largest
sources of foreign revenue to Nepal. Keeping this industry alive is key to
rebuilding and survival.

A large percentage of tourism jobs are held by
people from quake affected areas, and it’s said that one tourist provides
nine people with jobs

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)
2014 report indicated that in 2014 Travel & Tourism directly supported
487,500 jobs (3.5% of total employment). This was expected to rise by 4.0%
in 2015 and rise by 3.0% pa to 681,000 jobs (3.9% of total employment) in
2025. However, these estimates could be compromised by the impact of the
earthquake. The WTTC estimate includes employment by hotels, travel
agencies, airlines and other passenger transportation services (excluding
commuter services).

Many peoples’ livelihoods depend on tourism
including: those in hotels, transport companies, restaurants, airports,
taxis, gear shops, souvenir stalls, not to mention the farmers who grow
the food to supply the industry.

The multiplier effect of every dollar spent on
travel in Nepal is immense.

Tourism takes money directly into remote and
regional communities, so it is a powerful distributor of wealth which does
not rely solely on the ‘trickle down’ effect.

Jobs and currency are the most needed
long-term items for a sustainable rebuild.

At least 2.2 million Nepalis — nearly 10
percent of the population — work abroad, according to the Nepal
Institute of Development Studies. And that number
doesn’t include those who leave to work without being registered as doing
so.

There are many countries that are at risk from
earthquakes that people continue to visit, for example: New Zealand,
Japan, Indonesia and the state of California.